Why Yawning Is More Contagious for Women

According to biologists at the Natural History Museum in Pisa, Italy it’s for a noble reason – women may have more empathy.

Based on five years of direct observation they found thatmirroring another’s yawn happens more often between friends and family than strangers, and more often for women than men.

The researchers gathered data from 2010 to 2015 on humans in the wild – that is, in offices, train stations, over dinner, and during social events. They discovered rates of yawning to be highest among strongly bonded subjects. Couples, friends, and family were more likely to yawn in tandem than acquaintances or strangers.

They also found rates of transfer to be higher in women. Men “caught” a yawn on 40 percent of occasions, while women did so nearly 55 percent of the time.

Studies looking at differences in empathy also suggest women are more sensitive than men to others’ emotions and so more likely to mimic certain facial expressions. In light of the existing evidence, then, the team says their study “further supports the empathic ground of yawn contagion.”

So if a woman yawns in your presence, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are boring her – it could be that she just understands you.

Fish During Pregnancy May Help Baby’s Brain

Medical science reserves the right to change its mind.

A case in point: Despite the fact that pregnant women have long been discouraged from eating fish (particularly tuna or tilefish) because of its higher levels of mercury, a new study finds thatdining on fish every week may benefit the brain of their future child – and may even decrease his or her risk of having some of the early signs of autism.

Researchers at the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona, Spain followed about 2,000 mothers and their children, beginning in the mothers’ first trimester of pregnancy, and continuing until the children turned 5.

The children whose mothers ate three to four servings of fish a week had IQ scores that were 2.8 percent higher than those whose mothers ate less fish. What may be more surprising – the study also showed that children whose mothers ate an average of 21 ounces of fish every week (about three to four servings) during their pregnancy showed no signs that mercury in fish negatively affected their developmental health, compared with the children whose mothers ate less fish.

Concerns about eating fish during pregnancy arose when some previous findings suggested that prenatal exposure to mercury found in fish may increase the risk of developmental health problems – a study by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that increased consumption of fish containing methyl mercury may be linked with a risk of heart damage and irreversible impairment in brain function in children.

Although more study of the link between fish consumption and brain development is needed, the new results are in line with many earlier studies that have linked eating fish during pregnancy with better outcomes in children.

The findings of the latest study suggest that high levels of a compound called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) may outweigh any negative effects of mercury. Fish such as tuna that may have mercury, also hold higher levels of DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid that plays a critical role in brain growth and development.

Work Makes Us Unhappy

As much as we may try to convince ourselves that we love our work – we don’t.

At least that’s the conclusion of researchers from the University of Sussex and London School of Economics. What’s more, they found that the only thing that makes us more unhappy than our job is being sick.

The study used an app called Mappiness to find how happy people were at random times of the day. It checks in on users to see how happy they are at different times and during different activities. Mappiness sends notifications to users’ phones up to five times a day, and asks them to answer short surveys in which they rate how happy, relaxed, and awake they are.

Over a million responses were included in the study, which revealed that being at work caused happiness levels to drop up to 8 percent compared to other activities outside of the office.

Adding weight to this finding, a recent Gallup poll found as many as 70 percent of employees in the U.S. weren’t happy with their job. The poll suggested millennials were particularly unhappy because they felt they couldn’t use their talents and strengths to their full potential.

"Although we may be positive about our jobs when reflecting on the meaning and purpose they give us, and the money they provide, actually engaging in paid work comes at a significant psychological cost,” said Mappiness creator Dr. George MacKerron, an economist at the University of Sussex.

“It appears that work is highly negatively associated with momentary well-being … at any given moment, we would rather be doing almost anything else.”